This Ain't a Scene
by Buddi563
Summary: It's an arms race.  The Leverage team clashes with NCIS in an overseas mission to stop a foreign terrorist group from attempting to overthrow its government as well as attacking Washington D.C. Surprise crossover romance :  Not slash. Read and review plz!
1. Prologue

_Hey readers! Thanks for stopping by. In this fanfic I will try to be as close to canon as I can. If you're looking for slash and ships like Eliot/Parker, this fic isn't for you, however I do have some pretty good stuff planned out, so I hope you give it a chance! If you read, please leave a review! It will keep me inspired to make more chapters :)_

__**Prologue**

The small, but very masculine young man sprinted down the road, frantically looking behind him to see if he was still being followed. The warm breeze and blue sky didn't seem fitting at the moment to the Marine, but he didn't have time to think too much of it. Right now, his focus was finding a fitting place to hide. He ran along a river and back onto the road, seeking shelter under an overpass. He stood, hunched over, one hand gripping his chest in an attempt to catch up on some much needed oxygen, and the other hand supported his body against the cement wall.

The sound of a revving engine met the man's ears and he turned around to see a rusty, orange pickup truck speeding around the corner and under the overpass. A foreign man leaned out of the passenger window and aimed a gun at the man. With a gasp, the Marine turned around to make another run for it. Being so fatigued, his knees gave out on him and he collapsed to the ground. He rolled over just in time to look his murderer in the eye, and flinched just before the shot rang out across the sky.


	2. Chapter 1

Tony poked his head out of the elevator and glanced at the team's office. Ziva and McGee were both at their desks, silently tapping away at their keyboards. After concluding Leroy Jethro Gibbs was not at his desk, Tony found it fit to glide toward his own desk, an accomplished grin on his face. He set his bag down on the ground beside him and took off his jacket.

"Boy, was I lucky," he said, hanging the jacket around the back of his chair. "Good thing boss-man isn't here yet." Ziva peered at him over her computer screen. Tony was unable to see her smile, but he did notice her and McGee quickly glance at one another. "Where is he, anyway?"

"That's just what I was getting ready to ask about you, DiNozzo," Tony heard from the MTAC balcony. He flinched.

"How are you doin' boss?" he asked playfully, turning around to watch Gibbs descend from the staircase.

"I'd be doin' a whole lot better if my team showed up on time," the older man responded. Tony kept a smile on his face.

"Heh, heh, funny story, really," he began. "You see, this morning my car was…" Tony realized Gibbs wasn't interested so he began to trail off. "flat tire… traffic… no parking…" Gibbs raised his eyebrows and waited for Tony to stop talking.

"Are you finished?" he asked. Tony put his head down.

"Yes, sir," he said.

"Good," Gibbs said. "Then, gear up. We've got a dead Marine." The team stood up and grabbed their belongings as quickly as possible before following Jethro to the elevator.

"What do we have this time, boss?" McGee asked, last to step into the elevator.

"Dead Marine," Gibbs repeated.

"Yeah, but what do we know?" McGee elaborated.

"He's dead, shot, McGee," Gibbs said with a frustrated tone as the elevator door came to a close. "That's about it."

The team arrived at the scene under the overpass near the Potomac River, where just hours earlier the poor Marine was shot down. Police cars blocked the road to stop traffic from coming through as they held the scene and waited for NCIS to arrive. Gibbs stepped out first, coffee in hand, and approached the police officer.

"Tell me what you know," Gibbs said to the police officer.

"Well," the young man, obviously intimidated by the older man's demeanor, began. "We got a call not too long ago from a morning commuter with reports of a dead man on the side of the road. We came out and took his wallet, with all the contents still in it as far as we could tell. It doesn't look like a lottery. Anyway, we found his military ID and called you guys right away. His name is Sergeant Robert Wilson, 31 years old."

"Did you move the body?" Gibbs asked.

"No, sir!" the cop assured Gibbs. "We just reached inside his jacket to grab his wallet." Gibbs nodded.

"I wonder what Wilson was doing over here in the first place," Tony pondered out loud to anyone who cared to listen while he jotted down notes onto his pad.

"It is strange, isn't it?" Ziva said after snapping a few photographs of the body. "Assuming he worked on the Marine Barracks as a reservist, he'd be about 10 miles away from there. There's really nothing of relevance here either. Why was he here?"

"And how did he get here? I don't see a car," Tony added, looking around inquisitively.

"You're right," McGee chimed in. He was leaning against the car a few feet away tapping at his laptop keys. "Wilson was active at the Marine Barracks Reserve here in Washington. He should be there right now."

"And his car, McLaptop?" Tony asked.

"I've tapped into his apartment's parking garage's surveillance footage and it's not there anymore," McGee answered. Ziva, who had wandered off in the other direction toward the river spoke up, focusing her camera at the road.

"Well, there was certainly someone here driving in a hurry," she stated, taking a series of photographs of a large tire tread on the asphalt.

"I'd say so too," Gibbs said, joining his team and casually sipping his coffee. Not a moment later did the coroner's truck come to a halt in front of them. Out stepped Ducky and Palmer, grabbing their supplies and heading toward the dead Marine.

"Good morning!" Ducky greeted happily. The team greeted Ducky friendlily as Ducky continued. "Well, certainly not for this fellow! Let's see what we have." He and Palmer started observing Sergeant Wilson without hesitation. "Oh my, well that bullet wound right there would probably be the culprit."

"We figured as much," Tony told the old man.

"Yes, well it doesn't take a medical degree to assume a bullet through the heart was the cause of death," Palmer said, defending his job and assuring Tony that his deduction was nothing special.

"Of course not," Ducky backed him up. "However, we'll still have to do our chemical tests and a full body detail back at NCIS." He looked at the thermometer. "Sergeant Wilson is still relatively warm. Rigor mortis hasn't set in yet. I'd say this man died around 6:30 this morning." He picked up the Marine's hands and looked at the fresh scrapes that hadn't had a chance to truly bleed before the man's death. "The only other apparent wounds on this man are on his hands. Easily this could have been caused by his fall."

"Well, let's get him back to headquarters and do a full analysis," Gibbs suggested. He turned to the three younger agents. "Have you guys collected all of the evidence?"

"Yes, boss," Tony answered.

"Good, let's move out."


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

"You are in absolutely magnificent shape, my dear fellow," Ducky told the dead marine laying on the cold, hard medical slab as he carefully extracted the bullet. "That is, except for the bullet that pierced your chest this morning." He dropped the small piece of metal into a labeled container. "Mr. Palmer, would you mind running this up to Miss Sciuto?"

"Sure thing, Dr. Mallard," Palmer said, turning around from his desk where he had just started the tox-screening on the marine's blood. He grabbed the container and headed toward the door to leave the morgue, acknowledging Special Agent Gibbs as he entered.

"Tell me what you've got, Duck," Gibbs said.

"I have found absolutely nothing wrong with this man, Jethro," Ducky began. "All of his organs are in great shape, and he's very fit and healthy. The only thing wrong with him was the bullet in his chest. The toxicology results will be done in a few minutes. That will show us if he has any poisons in his system or if he was intoxicated in any way." Gibbs nodded and a moment later the toxicology results alerted the mortician that they were done.

Ducky scrolled through the computer screen and nodded his head. "Just as I thought, he's clean, Jethro." 

"So the cause of death is the bullet wound," Gibbs replied.

"Absolutely," Ducky said, standing up.

"Thanks, Duck," Gibbs said as he turned around to go see Abby. As he exited the elevator, Palmer almost knocked him over.

"Oh my God, I am SO sorry," he said, flustered. He quickly checked Gibbs' hands to make sure he hadn't spilled his coffee.

"Watch it, Jimmy," he said, frustrated, as he pushed the man out of his way and entered Abby's lab, where music was blaring as always.

"Hi Gibbs!" Abby greeted him happily with a hug. Gibbs grinned at the girl and looked at her expectantly. "You're here awfully early, Gibbs! I don't really have anything for you yet. Jimmy just sent up the bullet and McGee and I are analyzing the street surveillance camera footage now." As if on cue, one of the computers behind Abby alerted her that it was finished scanning photos of the tire tracks at the crime scene. "Oh!" Abby exclaimed, spinning around and tapping away at her computer.

"Abby, I also just got some surveillance footage of our marine being chased by an orange pickup truck," McGee told Abby. Fully concentrated, Abby pulled up information on the truck's license plate and and matched the vehicle with the tire tracks.

"This truck was stolen, Gibbs," she told her boss as she skimmed through a stolen car report. "Marcy Davis reported the truck missing from her apartment building last night around midnight. We'll trace the traffic cams back to the time the truck was stolen."

Gibbs waited patiently as Abby and McGee pulled up the surveillance camera at the woman's apartment building and fast forwarded through the day. People bustled in and out of the apartments, drove about the parking lot- in high speed. Abby stopped the video and rewound when she noticed a group of hooded figures that had been lingering in the corner of the screen begin attempting to open the cars. Then one of the men pulled on the orange pickup truck's handle, it opened. Gibbs, Abby, and McGee all watched intently as the four figures scoped out the truck once opened and jump-started it. They all hopped in and peeled out of the apartment's parking lot.

"So apparently it was a random choice of vehicle," Gibbs stated. "They were checking all of the cars and this one just happened to be unlocked."

"I just checked, boss. Marcy Davis has no possible affiliation with Sergeant Wilson," McGee added in.

"Good," Gibbs continued. "Abs, I need you to follow that truck the best you can with the street surveillance cameras."

"Already on it," she said. The computer screen switched from camera to camera, following the truck as it traveled quickly down the streets. They parked the truck in the parking lot of a McDonald's and sat until five o'clock in the morning. The camera watching the truck from the roof of the fast-food restaurant gave them a good view of the inside of the vehicle. Abby detected their faces and started a facial recognition scan on them while they continued to watch the cameras. After leaving McDonald's the truck made its way to the apartment complex that was the home of the marine. "Sergeant Wilson leaves his house at 5:45. He gets in his car and is followed by the truck."

"Wilson wasn't in his car when he was killed, and I don't think we found it, did we?" McGee asked.

"No," Gibbs agreed. "Keep watching." The marine's silver car continued driving along until he stopped at an almost-abandoned parking lot along the riverside. From a distance, they watched the marine stepped out of his car and approached another man, who leaned against the side of his own car. The orange truck wasn't anywhere to be seen. "Can you zoom in any more, Abby?" Gibbs asked the forensic scientist. The surveillance camera was a great deal away from where the marine stepped out of his car along the river.

"I can try Gibbs, but it's too far away," Abby replied. "If I go in much further it's going to be nothing but pixels." 

"I don't care, I'm not aiming to see faces, I just want to be able to make out what's going on," Gibbs told her. The girl did what her boss told her and zoomed into the marine. He approached the other man, who had slightly darker skin, and it appeared as if they were having a calm conversation. Eventually the marine reached into his suit and pulled out an envelope, handing it to the other man. The tan-skinned man opened the folder and looked inside. After a short pause, the man threw the folder down onto the ground and pulled a gun out from his back pocket, aiming it at the marine.

Not a moment later did the Sergeant Wilson begin running back to his car, the other man shooting at his feet. When the orange truck reappeared from around the corner where it had been waiting, the marine realized he would not be able to make it back to his car, so he kept running as fast as he could. There were no cameras that followed him and the truck, but the team knew what came next.

Just after they lost camera sight of the truck, McGee's computer screen alerted them that it had recognized a face of one of the men in the trucks. Gibbs looked at McGee expectantly to find out who the man was.

"Abasi Mubarek," Tim started without hesitation. He scrolled through the page on the man. "From Eastern Egypt. He's on the United States' no-fly list and has a warrant for arrest from smuggling in illegal drugs and weapons." Gibbs pondered for a moment.

"Find him," he instructed.


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Nathan Ford and Sophie Deveraux sat at a booth in John McRory's, facing a teary eyed brunette woman who was dabbing her eyes delicately with a tissue. Sophie glared at Nate as he placed his hand on top of hers. The woman, Kaitlyn Reed, had contacted Leverage Incorporated just hours after she found out her husband had been killed, and scheduled a meeting the day after his funeral.

"Mrs. Reed, we need you to tell us what you know," Nate told her, trying not to express his impatience at the woman doing nothing but crying. She took a deep breath in an attempt to regain her composure. She sat up straight and began talking again.

"I'm sorry," she said, dabbing her eyes one last time before she stopped the tears. "Henry worked for Cabela's in the offices."

"The outdoors store?" Sophie asked inquisitively. Kaitlyn nodded her head.

"They also sell firearms and hunting equipment," she elaborated. "He had been telling me about how he found out that the company was getting involved in illegally dealing arms to a _terrorist_ group."

"He was certain that they were involved with terrorists?" Nate asked to be sure.

"Yes," Kaitlyn nodded again. "He even found proof. When he confronted them about it, he said they threatened him."

"What kind of threat?" Nate asked again. The woman shrugged.

"Henry didn't want to talk about it," she began tearing up once more. "I begged him to let it go. He told me he would, but he was an ex-marine- stubborn as hell." She laughed, thinking about her husband. Nate scoffed.

"I know the type," he said.

"Go on," Sophie told Kaitlyn, looking at Nate with a smile.

"Well, I guess he just wanted to do the right thing and stop them, or he was too much of a threat and they killed him," she went on, lower lip trembling as she resisted the urge to cry. "They said it was natural heart failure at first, but they found poison in his blood after the toxicology came back. They found him in his office, sitting in his chair with paperwork in front of him. The police are investigating, but it's not looking good. There was absolutely no evidence that anyone other than Henry even stepped foot in his office. It was wiped clean."

"And you don't think the police will find out about the arms deal?" Nate asked. "Surely you could tell them."

"No, I can't," Kaitlyn said.

"Why can't you?" Nate replied, not wanting to take the case if the police were going to get too involved.

"I wasn't finished," Kaitlyn started again, finally letting the tears stream down her face. "I was on the phone with Henry when it happened. They didn't know until after they killed him, and then they told me that if I told anyone, they'd kill me and our son. The man on the phone told me he'd never hurt a woman and her child, but if it put him in danger than he would. I promised I wouldn't tell, but now that I'm with you, I'm afraid he's going to find out and come after us."

Nate and Sophie both frowned at the fear in her voice. Nate tried to quickly think of something comforting to say to the woman, but before he had a chance to speak he was distracted by someone getting up from the booth directly behind him. A hooded, decently bruised, Eliot Spencer stood up and turned around, leaning over the table and looked directly at Kaitlyn. 

"We're going to bring down the people that did this to your husband, and we're not going to let anything happen to you or your son. You don't have to worry about anything," he said, his usually rugged and growling voice was gentle as he spoke. He gave her a reassuring smile before walking out of the bar and back up to Nate's apartment. Nate stuttered for a moment, not quite sure what to say after Eliot. He wasn't aware that Eliot was lurking again.

"Eliot's right," Sophie stepped in. "We're going to do everything we can to take out the person behind this."

"Thank you so much," Kaitlyn said, standing up. Nate and Sophie arose with her and shook her hand. "I trust you guys," she said before turning and walking away. After she walked out of the door, Nate questioningly looked at the ceiling and pointed in the approximate direction of his apartment where Eliot most likely was.

"Ehh, I wonder what got into Eliot," he said. Sophie shrugged.

"You know Eliot when it comes to military or police officers," she reminded Nate. He nodded, and they both headed off to get upstairs.

"Corporal McLaren, did you notice anything strange about Sergeant Wilson over the last few weeks or months?" Tony asked a tall man in full military attire at the Marine Barracks. Ziva snooped around the office behind them as Tony questioned the man.

"Well I have to admit, he did seem a little… preoccupied," McLaren answered, keeping his posture pristine with hands folded behind his back.

"What do you mean?" Tony asked.

"He was obsessed with the Libyan Islamic Movement," the marine explained.

"The Libyan terrorist group?" Ziva asked, leaning back to see the corporal from behind Tony.

"That's the one," McLaren responded. "He was convinced that they were up to something, and no matter how hard we looked into it, we really couldn't find anything threatening to the United States."

"Anything else?" Tony asked, scribbling down notes.

"He seemed more jumpy than usual," the corporal went on. "Actually, he was never a very jumpy guy." DiNozzo nodded.

"Did he have any enemies that you know of?" Tony inquired.

"No sir," the marine replied. "Sergeant Wilson was a well-loved war hero. During his service two years ago he saved his team from an explosion. Everyone loved him."

"Thank you for your time," Tony said. "Let us know if you remember anything."

"No problem," McLaren assured the NCIS agent.

Tony and Ziva left the reserve base and headed toward the car.

"I am driving," Ziva said, playfully taking the keys from Tony's hand.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Tony said, stepping forward and snatching the keys back from Ziva. "I _don't _feel like dying today." Ziva smirked.

"Oh please," Ziva laughed, slamming the driver's door shut just as Tony opened it. She pushed herself in between the car and Tony and looked up at him. "If I drive, at least we'll get back to headquarters sometime today." Tony raised an eyebrow, and Ziva squinted her own eyes. They stared at each other for a moment, until Tony shook his head and held up the keys. Ziva let out an accomplished laugh and took the keys from him, taking her place behind the drivers seat.


	5. Chapter 4

_Thanks to everyone who has added this story to their alerts/favorites, and to those who have left reviews! It means a lot, and I hope I don't disappoint! I find myself struggling with the NCIS character's personalities- let me know if you have any suggestions on how I can do better! -Buddi_

**Chapter 4**

Nate and Sophie joined the rest of the team upstairs shortly after the client left the bar. Hardison sat on the sofa, feet up on the coffee table, with a mini-keyboard in his hands as he began his research on the new mark. Parker was staring thoughtfully into the microwave, watching her popcorn until the popping sound subsided. Eliot, who had just gotten a bottle of beer from the fridge, opened the microwave and grabbed the popcorn.

"You're gonna burn it again, Parker," Eliot growled, slamming the microwave shut and throwing the bag of popcorn to the thief.

"No I wasn't," Parker protested, opening the bag and sticking her nose inside to smell it. She sat back quietly, eyeing Eliot as if he was psychic. She didn't want to admit that the smell did in fact suggest that it was almost about to burn. "I was gonna get it," she assured everybody with a nod of her head.

"Eliot gave me the run down already," Hardison told Nate as he pulled up information on the CEO of Cabela's, disregarding the hitter and thief. "This is Thomas Smith, CEO of Cabela's 'World Famous Outfitters'. They sell everything from hunting gear, to weapons, to canoes, tents, even RVs."

"That's nice and all, but were you able to find anything about him being involved in some kind of terrorist movement?" Nate interrupted.

"'Scuse you?" Hardison said, half-pretending to be offended. "Don't you know by now _not_ to doubt me?" Nate glared at Hardison; a sign that he should continue. "The only thing that looked suspicious was a shift in his funds from Dollar Bank account to his Bank of America account. I don't know why he would have done that, but his Dollar Bank account is bone dry now." Nate rubbed his chin. "Oh, wait a minute," Hardison began again. "Actually, look here. Smith placed an order for shipment to the Boston store yesterday, which is weird in itself since that's not even his job. It's a strange order too- it looks like he ordered a lot of heavy artillery- not just your every day hunting firearms."

"Nate, these aren't weapons you want to mess with," Eliot told the mastermind, not looking away from the screen with Cabela's order. "They've got military grade weaponry in this order; M-240 machine guns, M-1014's, MP5's- to name a few. Whatever they're up to is serious."

"This has to be for the arms deal the client was telling us about," Sophie stated.

"Yeah but, who are they dealing them to?" Parker asked, throwing a piece of popcorn into her mouth and crunching on it less-than-quietly. Hardison gave her an expectant glance, so she moved closer to him and held out the bowl to him. He grabbed a handful and began crunching also.

"She didn't say," Sophie answered, twirling a dazzling new necklace.

"I guess we'll have to find out," Nate said, all eyes now on him. "Let's go steal us an arms race."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"No enemies, huh?" Gibbs said, biting his lip as he glared at the television screens with Sergeant Wilson's information pulled up.

"No, boss," Tony said, clicking through. "But Corporal McLaren told us he was 'obsessed' with the Libyan Islamic Movement."

"The base was looking into it as much as they could, but they did not find anything out of the ordinary," Ziva added in.

"Something had to be driving him to be obsessed with it," Gibbs said, sipping his coffee and squinting at the screens as he racked his brain to figure out what could have possibly been making the marine so disgruntled.

"Whoa, hey boss," McGee said, standing up from his desk, but still hunched over tapping away at his keyboard. Gibbs turned quick and expectantly at Timothy. "I just found something."

"Timmy found something, everybody!" Tony exclaimed. He looked at McGee as if he were extremely proud of his co-worker. Gibbs was not so pleased, shifted his coffee into his right hand, and slapped the back of Tony's head with his now-free hand.

"Sorry, boss," he said, cringing slightly. McGee waited patiently from behind his desk.

"Well, what is it, McGee?" Gibbs said impatiently.

"Oh," he said before quickly looking back at his computer. A new image appeared on the screen, this time it was a portrait of a young woman. Next to it was a newspaper article.

"This is Bonnie Wilson," McGee explained. "Robert Wilson's sister. She was reported missing three weeks ago."

"Perhaps Wilson had reason to believe that the Libyan Islamic Movement had something to do with his sister's kidnapping?" Ziva suggested.

"That's the thing," McGee began. "I've looked in to all the files that the Barracks have obtained since starting their research after Wilson said they were up to something. They really haven't found anything to suggest that the Islamic Movement has been active at all; especially here in the United States."

"When did they begin looking into the terrorist group?" Gibbs asked.

"About- three weeks ago," McGee answered, now seeing where Gibbs was going with his questions.

"Around the same time Bonnie was kidnapped," DiNozzo added in. "And they never found the girl?"

"No, she's still missing," McGee said. They all stood silently in their crescent formation around the television screen.

"Let's find her," Gibbs demanded.


	6. Chapter 5

_I know I've let down a lot of eager readers- school was hectic, then summer was full of work, then I moved across the country. Now since I'm on a computer with nothing BUT internet, I can only type on Fanfiction (I don't have Microsoft Word anymore) so you all are in luck, because this is about the only thing I can do! Hope you enjoy. I really want the teams to meet, so I apologize if I rush the first few chapters a bit :) Thanks! -Buddi_

__With the NCIS investigation for Sergeant Wilson's murderer at a standstill, the team was completely focused on his missing sister, Bonnie. Abby and McGee were down in the lab, reviewing surveillance cameras for hours on end, and Tony and Ziva were searching databases and making as many phone calls as they could. It was a miracle that Gibbs even let them go home at night to sleep. Gibbs himself was the only soul, minus security, that stayed for 30 hours at the office without going home to sleep. He continued his search not only for Bonnie, but also on Wilson's murder, knowing the two were connected.

It was the next morning that Abby called Gibbs urgently to her lab.

"Gibbs!" she exclaimed, sucking down her morning caf-pow. It was 9AM and Gibbs was already on his third cup of coffee. "I know where your missing girl is." Abby had a very proud smile spread across her face, but Gibbs wasn't about to give any praise until his questions were answered.

"Where is she?" he asked after taking a sip of his coffee.

"Do you want the long story or the short story?" Abby grinned. Gibbs grabbed the caf-pow from her hand and glared at her. To an onlooker, they would see an angry boss about to punish his employee, but Abby knew all too well that there was much love behind the gesture. "Bonnie Wilson is in Boston."

"How did she get there?" Gibbs asked curiously. "Did she just up and leave or was she taken?"

"Why didn't you just ask for the long story then, Gibbs?!" Abby exclaimed. Gibbs rolled his eyes and handed her back her drink. If it were any of the other team members, he would have given them a quick slap on the head. Instead, he used sign language to say "go on".

"Well we used Wilson's phone to find her number, but her phone has been off or disabled, so we haven't been able to locate it or her," Abby continued. "_However_, just a few minutes ago it must have come back on because my computer was able to locate it- in Boston. It's hard to tell if she's there by herself or if she was kidnapped. If you ask me, the whole situation is fishy." Gibbs nodded.

"Good work, Abs," he told the scientist.

"So I guess you guys are going to head up there, huh?" she asked.

"Looks that way," he replied.

"McGee found your truck, boss," Tony said to Gibbs the second he stepped off the elevator. McGee, Ziva, and Tony were again standing around the television set.

"Finally, where was it?" Gibbs asked.

"Boston," Ziva answered.

"I finally got a hit from Boston P.D.'s surveillance cameras that caught the license plate number. I wonder what they'd be doing there?" McGee elaborated.

"I don't know," Gibbs replied. "but Abby just informed me that Bonnie Wilson's cell phone is in Boston as well."

"We're taking a trip to Boston, aren't we boss?" Tony asked.

"Go home and get packed," Gibbs replied.


	7. Chapter 6

Paste your document h

Eliot peered out of Kaitlyn Reed's living room window and into the street. He and the team thought it would be best if the hitter stayed with her and her son for a while to keep them safe, just in case the terrorists that had threatened her followed through. Coming from the kitchen, Kaitlyn approached Eliot, holding a glass of ice water.

"Thank you," Eliot said, taking the glass and taking a sip from it. He turned around and took a seat on her couch, glancing at the toddler playing with trucks in the corner. Kailtyn smiled and took a seat next to her. Eliot noticed her take a long look at a photograph of her, and her husband and child from their previous vacation. Eliot's eyebrows narrowed and he looked away toward her coffee table. On the table, Eliot caught sight of an interesting newspaper headline.

"Dead Marine's Missing Sister Suspected to be Held Captive in Boston"

Eliot picked up the paper and scimmed through the article.

"That's a shame, isn't it?" Kaitlyn said. "That woman's been missing for two weeks, and now her brother gets murdered. They think that the murder and her going missing is connected. The article says that NCIS is coming to Boston to investigate." Eliot remained silent for a moment, continuing to give the article a thorough glance. When he was finished an intense look of concern washed over his face and he sat back in his seat and threw his hand through his hair.

"It says they're looking for a man named Abasi Mubarek," he said gravely.

"Judging by your expression, I'd say that doesn't sound good," Kaitlyn said, a sudden fear growing inside of her.

"Abasi Mubarek is one of the top names in the Egyptian Jihad," he told her.

"But I thought the article said NCIS was investigating the Libyan Terrorist Group?" Kaitlyn asked. Eliot shook his head.

"They're not going to get anywhere with that," he said.

"We've got a problem," stated Eliot as he entered Nate's apartment.

"Where's Kaitlyn?" Parker asked curiously, sitting at the counter munching on cereal.

"And what's the problem?" Hardison added. At that moment Nate walked down the stairs, and Sophie looked up from a clothes magazine.

"Kaitlyn took her kid to Chuck E. Cheese for a while. I had to come back here and she didn't want to come with me so I told her to go somewhere there would be a lot of people, she should be alright."

"I went to Chuck E. Cheese once when I was a kid," Parker said. "I didn't like it." At nearly the same time, everybody looked at the theif with similar expressions, but nobody cared to ask. They were more concerned with the news Eliot had returned with.

"What's our problem?" he asked Eliot. The hitter pulled the newspaper out from his back pocket and threw it onto the counter. Hardison and Sophie stood up from the couch to come look. "We're gonna have a problem with the feds. NCIS has a dead marine in D.C., but the marine's sister was kidnapped. They traced her back to being in Boston. They're looking for a man called Abasi Mubarek- one of the top dogs from the Egyptian Jihad."

"Hmm," Nate pondered, looking at the article.

"Egyptian Jihad?" Parker said, now serious again. "Then these two cases must be related."

"Yeah, but how?" Hardison added, turning back to his computer.

"I don't know," Sophie said. "but I don't want to get involved with NCIS. Maybe she should just speak to Boston PD or NCIS when they come. If the cases are related, then they can help her."

"Yeah, unless Jihad gets to her first," Eliot growled. Everyone fell silent, and Sophie looked up at Nate to see what he had to say.

"Hardison," he finally said, now looking away from the newspaper. "Why don't you try to access NCIS' database and pull up some information to see what they're up to. Maybe we can work around them."

"You're asking me to hack into a federal database?" Haridson answered, his eyes growing larger. "I thought you wanted us to stay away from NCIS, not jump out in front of them and yell 'Hey! We're theives!'"

"We might need to break out your FBI aliases again," Sophie added. "In the mean time I think Nate and I need to go to the coproprate headquarters of Cabela's and get some inside information."

"Well I think we should find this girl," Eliot said, pointing to the picture on the newspaper of Bonnie Wilson.

"The feds will find her, man," Hardison assured the hitter. "We need to work on protecting Kaitlyn." Eliot grinded his teeth, giving in for now, but he was thinking to himself what he could do to help the missing woman.

"Thank God for in-flight wi-fi," McGee stated, sitting down at the table of their suite in their Boston hotel. "I got a lot of research done about Abasi Mubarek, however I lost track of the orange truck that he and the other stole and brought to Boston."

"Tell me about Abasi," Gibbs told him. At that same moment, Tony and Ziva appeared from one of the bedrooms.

"McGeek, boss-man gets the master bedroom with the king bed and Ziva and I have claimed the two beds in there. Looks like you get the couch!" Tony explained to McGee as DiNozzo threw his bags onto the couch. McGee simply ignored him and turned back to Jethro.

"So we know Abasi is on the no fly list for drugs smuggling and having weapons, but that was a long time ago," McGee said. "After some serious digging I was able to trace him to Egyptian Jihad."

"Egyptian Jihad? I thought we were looking at the Libyan Islamic Movement?" Tony questioned.

"Jihad?" Ziva asked. "I thought that name sounded familiar, but I never would have thought Jihad."

"You've been in The States for too long, you must be losing it," Tony laughed. Ziva rolled her eyes, but Gibbs looked rather unamused.

"All of you, keep digging so we can find the tie between Wilson's murder, kidnapping, and the Egyptian Jihad," he told Tony and Ziva. "McGee, try to find that truck again." And without another word, the team was hard at work. In the meanwhile, Gibbs was going into town to do some investigating as well.

_Next chapter, I PROMISE the two teams will have some sort of run-in/meet! It's coming! :) _

ere...


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